reached out to NY1 last summer<\/a>, hoping someone might see it.<\/p>\nSomeone did.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Marc Perez, a Queens resident diagnosed with advanced IgA Nephropathy, told NY1 over the summer his kidney function was down to 10%
\n
After seeing his profile on NY1, another Queens resident reached out to help him find a donor
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Months later, a Brooklyn teacher agreed to be tested and was found to be a match
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The successful transplant gave Perez a second chance at life and led to an emotional first meeting in January<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t realize it literally is right here. Like we’re 8\/10 of a mile,\u201d said Erica Rose Siegel, a realtor and nonprofit founder in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Siegel saw the NY1 story and commented on it. That led to direct messages, then a phone call and lunch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI then ended up learning, really, that he was a good person,\u201d she recalled thinking.<\/p>\n
Siegel gifted Perez a membership to her nonprofit, Best of Bayside, which supports local businesses.<\/p>\n
“I took business owners of my community to help meet other neighbors and grow their business, and we’ve helped them grow significantly,” said Siegel. “But then I said, hey, we could do the same thing with you, which is we wouldn’t be selling your business. We would be telling your story.”<\/p>\n
The two spent hours walking through the neighborhood, speaking with shop owners and posting flyers about Perez\u2019s need for a kidney donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwelve plus hours a week that he’s on dialysis plus commuting there back,” she said of Perez’s life. “He’s super positive. We need more people like him. He needs to live.”<\/p>\n
Inspired, Siegel began the process to see if she could donate her own kidney to Perez \u2014 a man who had been a stranger just months earlier. While she waited to learn whether she was a match, she continued spreading his story, including at a business retreat for female entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when one of the event\u2019s co-founders approached her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know this person wanting to donate a kidney,\u201d Siegel recalled being told.<\/p>\n
Siegel asked to connect Perez with the co-founder\u2019s friend. Soon, Perez sent a text message to Aline Linden, a teacher at Mazel Day School in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
Linden had long considered kidney donation, inspired by a friend who had donated years earlier. For a while, she said, the timing wasn\u2019t right. But last year, she believed it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just kind of wanted to pay it forward or outward somehow,” she said. “And I was like, \u2018What can I do to help somebody?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Kidney donation is not simple. Blood and tissue types must be compatible with one of the nearly 90,000 people nationwide waiting for a transplant.<\/p>\n
After speaking by phone, Linden agreed to be tested to see if she was a match for Perez, whose kidney function had dropped to 6%.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally I kind of prepared myself for the end at one point,\u201d Perez recalled.<\/p>\n
Doctors determined they were compatible. Within weeks of connecting, they were preparing for surgery.<\/p>\n
This fall, the transplant went as well as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat in and of itself felt like a gift, to be able to share my good health with someone else,\u201d said Linden.<\/p>\n
Linden was exercising just a week after the procedure. Perez now has two working kidneys and, he says, a new beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecond half of my life begins now,” he said.<\/p>\n
Because his immune system was still recovering, Perez could not immediately meet the woman who donated her kidney.<\/p>\n
That changed in January, when they met for dinner at a restaurant in Manhattan. Friends, including Siegel, joined them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just incredible,” said Linden, “to meet him face to face, give him a hug and a sit and have a meal.”<\/p>\n
Strangers just months earlier, they are now forever connected by a decision that saved a life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the best meal that I’ve ever had,\u201d said Perez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For months, Marc Perez lived a double life. By day, the Bayside, Queens resident worked as an IT…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2952,25,3801,2953,9,24,12,63,122,124,123,27,200],"class_list":["post-147226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-app-health","tag-app-top-stories","tag-eric-feldman","tag-health","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}